Reader:  'Their Online Reviews Are As Bad As My Own Experience. Haven't They Seen Them? Don't They CARE?!'

I've just been contacted by a seasoned retailer who owns several businesses in the lower North Island.

Bev Saunders, a new Levin (in the Horowhenua) resident, wanted to tell me about an experience this week, that left her aghast at the revenue a particular business owner must be leaving on the table, by the "couldn't give a stuff", "sensationally poor attitude" of this large regional retail and "service" provider.

Since she has no idea whether the "service" person she encountered was the owner or an employee - and has no desire to have anything further to do with the business in order to find out - she's asked me to grant the operation the grace of not identifying it.

While Bev and her husband were still in the process of moving into their new house in the town, they discovered that the whole-of-house water filtration system was in need of urgent repair. As in, when some part of the system was activated (I won't bother trying to encapsulate the full technical explanation), an "explosion" of water was coming out of somewhere it shouldn't have been.

"The system was much more complex than anything we’d ever seen before," said Bev. "So I took multiple photos of the different points" i.e. at which a fault could have been the cause, and headed for a large, established business that obviously dealt in this type of product as part of its broader field of expertise.

Begging to Be Sold To

For clarity and context, it should at this point be noted, that Bev was entirely open to any solution that might be recommended: from a $50 widget and some advice as to how to fit it, to a multiple-thousand-dollar full replacement system, to simply a referral to someone else who could solve what was obviously an urgent problem.

"I walked in, said hi, and said, 'I’ve just moved into this house; can I show you the photos of this problem?'

"I then explained the problem as I showed him the photos. I tried to interest him in the fact that I'd gone as far as I could in identifying the source of the problem. But he was uninterested from the start.

"I tried to impress upon him how much I needed his advice, because I had a BIG problem.  Water was spurting everywhere.

"He just tried to flick me off by saying ‘I’ve got nothing in stock’ . . . But what did that even mean?

"I asked if his company could come and install some replacement system," says Bev. "But he was so uninterested that he just kept trying to flick me off in every possible way.

"His whole attitude made me feel like I was just a stupid woman who was purely an annoyance to him. He seemed to be actually mocking me. Like he had so many more important things to do than speak to me.

"I couldn’t get through to him, that I was open to, including paying the cost of, whatever he was willing to recommend."

'Just" A Woman. What Would She Know?' (BIG Mistake)

'I honestly felt like he was trying to communicate that I was a "mere' woman in a man’s world and not worthy of being taken seriously.

"You get that sometimes, don’t you? Some men seem to think that women just don’t have the ability to grasp concepts in a manual field. But I used to work at Plumbing World, so I’m not completely ignorant in that regard at all. 

"In the end, I just picked up my handbag and left. But as I was walking down the street, I’m trying to figure out:

• "Did I come across as some loser with no money to pay for whatever solution he would have otherwise taken the time to recommend?

• "Was it that he really just can’t relate to a female customer?

• "Or is he not the shop owner and so he had no vested interest in whether or not the business gained a new customer . . . including even a highly profitable and even a lifetime one?

• "Worse still, was he the business owner, and has no retail customer service skills whatsoever and no concern about it either?

"He literally could have sold me a whole new system – with as simple an effort as saying, 'I’m not sure, but these photos are all we need, so I’ll show (whoever) and get back to you with our recommendation – which might be to replace the system in its entirely' . . . which I had made clear I was perfectly open to."

Advice from A Seasoned Retailer (Bev Herself)

Bev's own businesses are in the FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) sector. And she's aghast at how little regard the business in question appeared to have for:

- "The profitability of a regular (and probably long-term) customer, OR

- "The power of word-of-mouth – which works either way i.e. did a customer have a great experience or a crap experience with you?'"

"And if he’s not  the owner, then he’s losing business and revenue for that owner. He needs education on how to look after a customer for the value they represent to the business. He needs to be taught to actually recognise that. He needs to be put through some course, at the very least. There are plenty of courses out there. He needs to be taught even just how to deal with the public." 

A Slew of Terrible Reviews

During our phone call, Bev was surfing the business’s reviews online. While they were "a real mixed bag", they were definitely weighted towards the negative. VERY negative . . . with several that were an echo of her own experience - and were, whether coincidental or not - by female customers.

Examples:

"I went in for a spa filter, knowing exactly what I needed, customer service is appalling, was treated like I knew nothing and claimed that I had the wrong filter, which I absolutely did not. WILL NOT BE BACK.”

“Appalling service. Would not recommend.”

“Unhelpful and unmotivated customer service.’

“Been waiting several weeks for them to come, not impressed."

So what does that tell a seasoned retail business owner like Bev Saunders?

"You need to weed out the thorns that are causing reviews like this. Fix them or fire them. This is an appalling set of reviews (even despite a few positive ones sprinkled in) to have live on the internet about a business.

“And the fact that there’s seemingly no concern by management about the fact that these terrible reviews are there, and that they just keep coming, is beyond comprehension."

As a case in point with regard to revenue left on the table by a business like this, Bev told me that - had she had even an acceptable experience with this business - she would have returned in the short-term, to investigate the purchase of the two-person spa pool that she and her husband would like to have installed in their new property.

Are you listening, Mr Business Owner? Are you calculating your lost profits?

Ripe for Acquisition or Competition  (A Lesson from Jordan)

I remember going to a small business seminar once, years ago, I think by the high-profile SME guru, Brad Sugars . . . not sure now.

But what I do clearly remember is one of his greatest lessons for success, which related to buying up and turning small operations to a profit. 

He had said:  "Find a business that’s doing well despite itself. If you walk in, and the customer service is terrible, but they seem to be very much surviving anyway . . . BUY THAT BUSINESS!"

And you can see it so obviously, once you've had that pointed out to you. You don't need to be a marketing professional like myself. Anyone can see it.

Acquire the business, turn its customer service around, and you’ll wipe its competition off the map, if it actually even has any, because maybe that’s been the only reason for its continued survival in the face of its poor attitude and standards.

Either way, poor customer service is, ultimately, the choice of a fool.